You have arranged to visit a friend in England but an important event at home now means that you must change the dates of the visit. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - explain the important event - apologise for the situation - suggest a new arrangement
Sample Response
Dear Oliver, I hope you and your family are doing greatHope you and your family are doing great. I know that you wouldn’t like to hear what I am about to saywhat I am just about to say, but it looks like I won’t be able to visit you this coming summer, induring mid-July, as was the plan, because I will have to stay in my country for an important event. In fact, one of my close cousins has suddenly announced that he is going to get married this coming summer in mid-July, just when I had made plansjust when I made a plan to visit you in England. By the way, it is a love marriage, and my cousin’s parentsthe parents of my cousins didn’t really agree with the relationshipthis kind of love marriage until they suddenly changeduntil suddenly they changed their minds about a week ago. As a result,Quite understandably, my cousin didn’t want to misswaste this opportunity, and so he wanted to get married as soon as possible. I am really sorrySo, again, I am really sorry that I won’t be able to visit you this summer and do the activities we plannedall those fun things which we planned. But, if you are still up for the fun, I could still visit you next month, in Augustthe next month in August. Warm wishes, Farhad
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully communicates the change of plans in a warm, appropriate tone, clearly explaining the wedding, apologising, and proposing August. Its main weakness is that the wedding background and timing are repeated while the replacement arrangement remains vague. The most useful improvement would be to organise the message into short paragraphs, trim the repeated detail, and offer specific August dates or ask which week would suit Oliver.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter explains the family wedding, apologises, and suggests visiting in August instead. The informal tone suits a friend, though the wedding explanation is a little overdeveloped compared with the new arrangement.
Give a more definite new arrangement, such as exact August dates or asking which week suits Oliver.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a clear sequence, but it is written as one long paragraph and contains repeated references to mid-July and "love marriage". This weakens concision.
Use paragraph breaks and reduce repeated background details so the apology and new plan stand out.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is generally flexible and natural for an informal letter. Some phrases are awkward or repetitive, such as "just when I made a plan" and "the next month in August".
Use concise informal wording and avoid repeating the same phrase when explaining the schedule clash.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Most grammar is clear, with a range of clauses and conditionals. There are errors in noun agreement, tense choice, and phrasing, but they do not block meaning.
Check plural possessives and time expressions, especially around "cousin" and the planned visit.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have arranged to visit a friend in England but an important event at home now means that you must change the dates of the visit. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- explain the important event
- apologise for the situation
- suggest a new arrangement
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.